Supercapacitors with graphene coated paper electrodes

Abstract Paper based supercapacitors are prepared by stacking a paper between two graphene electrodes and soaking these in an aqueous electrolyte. We demonstrate that supercapacitors can easily be manufactured by using proven paper technologies. Several different electrode materials were compared and two types of contacting material, silver and graphite foil were tested. The influence of the paper used as separator was also investigated. The supercapacitors with a graphene-gold nanoparticle composite as electrodes showed a specific capacitance of up to 100 F/g and an energy density of 1.27 Wh/kg. The energy density can further be increased by using other electrolytes. The silver contacts showed a pseudo capacitance, which the graphite contacts did not. The papers tested had a minor effect on the capacitance, but they have an influence on the weight and the volume of the supercapacitor.